HIS KILLER RIVAL
AGE: Can live into their 70s, making them among the longest-living fishes, according to latest research. Males sexually mature around 26 and females around 33. NICKNAME: White Death. FAMOUS FOR: Inspiring Peter Benchley’s novel ‘Jaws’, which spawned Steven Spielberg’s hit 1975 film, its ‘der-duh, der-duh, der-duh…’ soundtrack — and great whites’ infamy as man-eaters. TOP SPEED: Twenty-five miles per hour. Scientists believe they could reach 35mph (though the shortfin mako is believed to be the fastest shark, at up to 40mph). LENGTH: 15-20ft. WEIGHT: Around one ton on average — but can be up to 2.4 tons. Females grow larger than males. POWER: Eighty-five per cent of body weight is muscle, compared with about 35 to 45 per cent for humans. Their bite force can reach about 1.8 tons — though Michael Phelps would have been hoping he’d never get to discover what that feels like. DIET: They need to eat 66lb of mammal blubber every 15 days to survive — the equivalent of a seal pup every three days. Prey also includes small-toothed whales such as belugas, sea turtles, fish and dead animals they’ve found floating in the water. SLEEP: Shark sleep patterns have long puzzled scientists because they need to keep water moving over their gills in order to breathe. Many species can do this while lying on the seabed and moving their gills to create a pumping effect.
But great whites possess no muscles in their gills so they have to keep moving. To sleep, they slow down and cruise in a trance-like state... with their eyes open. WARM UP: No need to — as their body temperature can be 50f (10c) higher than the surrounding water.
This is because heat generated as they swim is conserved by a special vascular network surrounding the muscles.
This network helps to maintain heat in the body core, rather than allowing it to dissipate into the cooler water.
ANATOMICAL ADVANTAGES: A great white is torpedo-shaped with long bundles of muscle fibres from the top of its head to the tip of its tail. When these are contracted, a series of undulations are produced along the body, allowing the shark to accelerate through the water using its tail.
And should an opponent cut up rough, its mouth is lined with up to 300 serrated, triangular teeth arranged in several rows. WELL, FANCY THAT! Of the 100-plus annual shark attacks worldwide, around one-third are attributed to great whites. Most are not fatal — and recent research suggests the sharks are just ‘sample biting’ out of curiosity. So that’s all right then. ODDS: 1/2 favourite (Ladbrokes)